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1999 Minnesota Twins season

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1999 Minnesota Twins
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionCentral
BallparkHubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
CityMinneapolis
Record63–97 (.394)
Divisional place5th
OwnersCarl Pohlad
General managersTerry Ryan
ManagersTom Kelly
TelevisionKMSP-TV
Midwest Sports Channel
(Bert Blyleven, Dick Bremer, Paul Molitor)
Radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, John Gordon)
← 1998 Seasons 2000 →

The 1999 Minnesota Twins season was the 39th season for the franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their eighteen season at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and the 99th overall in the American League. They began their season on a positive note, with Brad Radke getting the win in a 6–1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. However, they finished the season in last place, with a 63–97 record.

Offseason

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Regular season

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Seventeen rookies saw playing time for manager Tom Kelly in the 1999 season. Some of these rookies, such as Corey Koskie, Torii Hunter, and Joe Mays, would go on to future success. The season was not without its bright spots, including Doug Mientkiewicz's .997 fielding percentage and Koskie's team-leading .310 batting average. Another bright spot occurred on September 11, when pitcher Eric Milton threw the only no-hitter of his career against an Anaheim Angels team that consisted mainly of September call-ups. However, the euphemism "rebuilding year" must be applied to the Twins' 1999 campaign.

On May 4, rookie Mike Lincoln pitched the Twins to their 3,000th victory. It was Lincoln's first win in the major leagues, as he beat the Yankees 8-5 at the Metrodome. Bert Blyleven was on the mound for both the Twins' 1,000th and 2,000th victories.

It was only May 21 when the team's brain trust realized that this would not be a world champion team. On that day, the Twins traded Rick Aguilera, then their highest paid player, to the Chicago Cubs. The team also traded Scott Downs and received Jason Ryan and future starter Kyle Lohse in return. The team finished the season with a 63-97 record, ranked fifth in the American League Central Division.

The lone representative of the Twins in the All-Star Game was Ron Coomer. He replaced Jim Thome at first base and went 0 for 1.

The highest paid Twin in 1999 was Rick Aguilera at $4,300,000; followed by Marty Cordova at $3,000,000.

Offense

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The offense was not impressive. Minnesota was last in the league in slugging and had only one more walk than the league-worst White Sox. The team leaders were: Coomer with 16 home runs; Cordova with 70 RBI; Walker with a .279 average; Walker with 148 hits and 37 doubles; and Lawton with 26 stolen bases.

Several players failed to meet expectations offensively. In June, Lawton was hit in the face by a pitch. He missed a month and had trouble finding his swing after returning. Mientkiewicz had a great season batting-wise at the double-A level in 1998, but was not able to follow it up the following year at the major league level.

Team Leaders
Statistic Player Quantity
HR Ron Coomer 16
RBI Marty Cordova 70
BA Todd Walker .279
Runs Chad Allen 69

Pitching

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Radke, Milton, and LaTroy Hawkins filled the first three spots in the starting rotation throughout the season. The fourth and fifth spots were less predictable. Mays did emerge as a capable starter midway through the season, making 20 starts. Also making an appreciable number of starts in 1999 were Mike Lincoln (15), Dan Perkins (12), and Jason Ryan (8).

Aguilera started the season as the Twins' closer and recorded eight saves, but Mike Trombley took over the closer duties in May and finished the season with 24 saves. Trombley, Bob Wells, Travis Miller, Eddie Guardado, and Héctor Carrasco had respectable seasons out of the bullpen.

Overall, the pitching staff allowed the second fewest walks in the American League and had an average ERA.

Team Leaders
Statistic Player Quantity
ERA Brad Radke 3.75
Wins Brad Radke 12
Saves Mike Trombley 24
Strikeouts Eric Milton 163

Defense

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Like most of manager Tom Kelly's teams, this one was fundamentally sound. For example, the team committed the third fewest errors in the major leagues in spite of its inexperience.

Chad Allen, Hunter, and Matt Lawton saw consistent playing time in the outfield. However, Jacque Jones saw enough at bats to supplant Allen the following season, leading to the "Soul Patrol" of Jones, Hunter, and Lawton. Terry Steinbach was the starting catcher, with Javier Valentín as his backup. Three of the infield positions were fairly stable, with Mientkiewicz getting the bulk of the time at first base, Todd Walker at second, and Cristian Guzmán at short. Although Coomer was the opening day third baseman, Koskie ended up playing the most games at that position. (Coomer saw time at first when it became apparent that Mientkiewicz was not yet ready to face major-league pitchers.) Brent Gates also saw substantial playing time at third, as well as second. Marty Cordova played in 88 games as the designated hitter.

Season standings

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AL Central
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cleveland Indians 97 65 .599 — 47‍–‍34 50‍–‍31
Chicago White Sox 75 86 .466 21½ 38‍–‍42 37‍–‍44
Detroit Tigers 69 92 .429 27½ 38‍–‍43 31‍–‍49
Kansas City Royals 64 97 .398 32½ 33‍–‍47 31‍–‍50
Minnesota Twins 63 97 .394 33 31‍–‍50 32‍–‍47

Record vs. opponents

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1999 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team ANA BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC MIN NYY OAK SEA TB TEX TOR NL 
Anaheim — 3–9 1–9 5–5 1–9 5–5 7–5 6–4 6–4 8–4 6–6 7–5 6–6 3–9 6–12
Baltimore 9–3 — 5–7 7–3 1–9 5–5 6–4 8–1 4–9 5–7 5–5 5–7 6–6 1–11 11–7
Boston 9–1 7–5 — 7–5 8–4 7–5 8–2 6–4 8–4 4–6 7–3 4–9 4–5 9–3 6–12
Chicago 5–5 3–7 5–7 — 3–9 7–5 6–6 8–3–1 5–7 3–7 4–8 6–4 5–5 6–4 9–9
Cleveland 9–1 9–1 4–8 9–3 — 8–5 7–5 9–3 3–7 10–2 7–3 5–4 3–7 5–7 9–9
Detroit 5–5 5–5 5–7 5–7 5–8 — 7–4 6–6 5–7 4–6 3–7 4–5 5–5 2–10 8–10
Kansas City 5–7 4–6 2–8 6–6 5–7 4–7 — 5–8 5–4 6–6 7–5 2–8 4–6 3–7 6–12
Minnesota 4–6 1–8 4–6 3–8–1 3–9 6–6 8–5 — 4–6 7–5 4–8 5–5 0–12 4–6 10–7
New York 4–6 9–4 4–8 7–5 7–3 7–5 4–5 6–4 — 6–4 9–1 8–4 8–4 10–2 9–9
Oakland 4–8 7–5 6–4 7–3 2–10 6–4 6–6 5–7 4–6 — 6–6 9–1 5–7 8–2 12–6
Seattle 6–6 5–5 3–7 8–4 3–7 7–3 5–7 8–4 1–9 6–6 — 8–4 5–8 7–2 7–11
Tampa Bay 5–7 7–5 9–4 4–6 4–5 5–4 8–2 5–5 4–8 1–9 4–8 — 4–8 5–8 4–14
Texas 6–6 6–6 5–4 5–5 7–3 5–5 6–4 12–0 4–8 7–5 8–5 8–4 — 6–4 10–8
Toronto 9–3 11–1 3–9 4–6 7–5 10–2 7–3 6–4 2–10 2–8 2–7 8–5 4–6 — 9–9


Roster

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1999 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Notable transactions

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Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Terry Steinbach 101 338 96 .284 4 42
1B Doug Mientkiewicz 118 327 75 .229 2 32
2B Todd Walker 143 531 148 .279 6 46
SS Cristian Guzmán 131 420 95 .226 1 26
3B Corey Koskie 117 342 106 .310 11 58
LF Chad Allen 137 481 133 .277 10 46
CF Torii Hunter 135 384 98 .255 9 35
RF Matt Lawton 118 406 105 .259 7 54
DH Marty Cordova 124 425 121 .285 14 70

Other batters

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Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Ron Coomer 127 467 123 .263 16 65
Denny Hocking 136 386 103 .267 7 41
Jacque Jones 95 322 93 .289 9 44
Brent Gates 110 306 78 .255 3 38
Javier Valentín 78 218 54 .248 5 28
Midre Cummings 16 38 10 .263 1 9
Chris Latham 14 22 2 .091 0 3
Cleatus Davidson 12 22 3 .136 0 3
A. J. Pierzynski 9 22 6 .273 0 3
David Ortiz 10 20 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Brad Radke 33 218.2 12 14 3.75 121
Eric Milton 34 206.1 7 11 4.49 163
LaTroy Hawkins 33 174.1 10 14 6.66 103
Mike Lincoln 18 76.1 3 10 6.84 27
Jason Ryan 8 40.2 1 4 4.87 15

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Joe Mays 49 171.0 6 11 4.37 115
Dan Perkins 29 86.2 1 7 6.54 44
Benj Sampson 30 71.0 3 2 8.11 56
Mark Redman 5 12.2 1 0 8.53 11
Gary Rath 5 4.2 0 1 11.57 1

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Mike Trombley 75 2 8 24 4.33 82
Bob Wells 76 8 3 1 3.81 44
Eddie Guardado 63 2 5 2 4.50 50
Travis Miller 52 2 2 0 2.72 40
Héctor Carrasco 39 2 3 1 4.96 35
Rick Aguilera 17 3 1 6 1.27 13
Rob Radlosky 7 0 1 0 12.46 3
J.C. Romero 5 0 0 0 3.72 4

Other post-season awards

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Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Salt Lake Buzz Pacific Coast League Phil Roof
AA New Britain Rock Cats Eastern League John Russell
A Fort Myers Miracle Florida State League Mike Boulanger
A Quad Cities River Bandits Midwest League Jose Marzan
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Jon Mathews
Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Al Newman

[15]

References

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  1. ^ Todd Ritchie at Baseball-Reference
  2. ^ Alex Ochoa at Baseball-Reference
  3. ^ a b Melvin Nieves at Baseball-Reference
  4. ^ a b George Williams at Baseball-Reference
  5. ^ Bob Wells at Baseball-Reference
  6. ^ Bobby Kielty at Baseball-Reference
  7. ^ Dan Serafini at Baseball-Reference
  8. ^ Jack Cressend at Baseball-Reference
  9. ^ Midre Cummings at Baseball-Reference
  10. ^ Rick Aguilera at Baseball-Reference
  11. ^ Frank Rodriguez at Baseball-Reference
  12. ^ Rob Bowen at Baseball-Reference
  13. ^ Justin Morneau at Baseball-Reference
  14. ^ Terry Tiffee at Baseball-Reference
  15. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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